The Channel, Waiting on a Dream

(The Channel - top, Waiting on a Dream - bottom)

I am going to post two at a time today - so as I was saying last time, I had a bit of a pause on the painting and was backed up.  Once it got released there was an explosion of many paintings and I got obsessed there for a while.  I couldn't stop painting!  I appreciated that happening because during the dry period it felt like it will never happen and then when it did I felt compelled to ride that wave.  I am reading a book right now (don't have the title on hand) about how in order to really allow creativity to flourish, people have to be ok with failure and keep going.  I think that might be the biggest challenge that I am hearing from artists and people who have a dream of expressing themselves creatively but are afraid to try. 

So I just plunged right in, disliked a few paintings, heard the critic in my mind and told it to f**k off!  And then I got into what I felt was this amazing ride where I started to forget myself and didn't realize that I was about to pee in my pants because I forgot that I had a bladder that needed emptying every so often.  And that's how I rekindled my passion with the canvas and realized that I cannot live without this ritual of expressing myself visually. 

I feel called to teach workshops and show people techniques to bring out their hidden creativity.  One day...

Somewhere

Since my last blog - over a year ago (!!) - I have painted many paintings but this one was the first that I really enjoyed and has opened my creative juices to others which I will post soon. The name of this painting is 'Somewhere'. I have taken a brake from painting since we bought our new house and have settled in and created a new work space. I needed to feel settled and safe before creating anything new. This painting I call 'somewhere' because as you see it feels like a place but not in our world. Since then I went back to my females because that is really the type of painting I most enjoy doing. My relationship with my art has grown and had it's ups and downs mainly since I began selling my work. To be able to throw on different 'hats' and create from a place of purity without thinking of business was something that challenged me for many years after choosing to do it as a profession. I got to the point where I realized that I wanted to get rid of older paintings so I can create new ones and then the passion for doing whatever needed to get done just to create more re-awakened. I love what I do so much and I have worked through any blocks I felt internally. Yes - even though I have painted since I was a child it still didn't stop me from facing blocks and self doubt or fear of truly expressing myself. But that's the joy of life, you never stop learning and growing and I realized that I learned to appreciate the rewards that come with it. So I brought myself back to that 'place' - somewhere :)

Back to the canvas

Across the Bridge

I have taken some time off from painting and working - a few months or so during the summer. After my first year doing outdoor shows, I got so burnt! The second year will be easier since the guessing is taken out of the equation and we will know what we're doing. We = my husband and I. He has been kind and supportive in helping me with the shows - poor guy, it's not easy.


The Landscape
After some time off, I had a crazy urge to paint. When I painted I just let the process lead me and I didn't feel like painting anything specific. So I let the paint, paint itself...

I began splattering a ton of colors that called to me and sprayed them with water swishing them, moving the canvas and allowing them to flow where they want to flow. I thought it was so cool that without doing much, so much comes out! I was also reading the Tao Te Ching this summer - little bits of it. What I got from it is that life doesn't so much need our help but comes out perfect when we let things be. I thought of that as I allowed the paints to move and become something almost all on their own. Ofcourse I would dab and choose the colors being a co-creator but most of it was how they moved when the canvas would tilt. I love crystals and some looked like crystals and natural formations that you see in nature.

One of them in particular looked like angels to me - I called that one city of angels because so many of the images that developed came out to look like angels.

City of Angels

Awake

This painting is my recent large piece that I will be showing in my upcoming shows in Miami Beach, Las Olas and Key Biscayne art festivals. I spoke with a few artists and collectors in the Boca Raton art festival and was inspired to try out a realistic face with earthy colors. I had the image of this type of cut-off of just one side of the face. I usually have the eyes closed in my women but have had the image of an eye open and a kaleidescope image in the eyes. I have always been intrigued by eyes in general and have seen eyes with those shapes before.
This painting came about as a result of events that got me out of my comfort zone so to speak. Even with painting this, I explored a new perspective and stretched my painting abilities to a new place that I usually don't venture. I also realized that I had more resistance than I thought and by becoming aware of it I was able to let it go. The awareness that came out of the experience is what got me to realize that I was in a slumber in my understanding of certain aspects of my life. I am still learning every day and by simply admitting to myself what 'is' I am able to wake up to more of my potential. I know that many of us can easily be sleep walking and not realize it in ourselves (it's much easier to see it in others). I want to live my life fully alive, fully awake and will do whatever it takes to achieve that - with a nice dose of patience of course...

"The unexamine life is not worth living"

-Socrates

A New Day - Blessings for the New Year

The painting I am posting is called 'A New Day'. I thought it would be appropriate on this New Year's Evening. My husband is working tonite, and my two beautiful girls are sleeping. New Year's is not what it used to be for parents of little ones - but that's ok with me, I like to use it as a time of reflection and excitement for a new time.

My wishes for the world are that we awaken to more compassion for one another and begin working together as a unite rather than separately. I think as humans we haven't scratched the surface of our potential. I also speak about myself as I am on this road of discovery every day and learning moment by moment as I venture through my life's journey. I wish for the world true peace. The kind of peace that is contagious and uplifting. I am going to meditate on that tonite - may we all reach our ultimate and highest potentials and learn to communicate from a place of love and kindness.

"The little dissatisfaction which every artist feels at the completion of a work forms the germ of a new work"

-Berthold Auerbach

The Enchanted Visit

My new painting 'The Enchanted Visit' came to me just like that. I wasn't expecting to finish it in under 2 hours but it swept me away and left just as fast. My husband and I decided we were going to use the night to do things that we needed to do with some music in the background. So I looked at the background of colors on my canvas (this is how I always start my paintings) and suddenly told him that I am unavailable to talk for 15 minutes so please no distraction. I saw the images flow in the background and my hand just took over. This was so much fun to paint and it was faster than many paintings that I have sweat over in the past and was not impressed with when they were done. I love it when that happens!

My new 'Gem'

It's called 'The Gem' and it's my latest creation. I paint often and sometimes find that things take a while before they manifest - but I LOVE it when I have a smooth, easy and really enjoyable painting. This one was like that for me and I recently put it on auction. Thanks for reading!

Michelle